Thoughts and commentary about the janitorial and office cleaning business.

05/23/2014

4.3 million dead in 2012 - from indoor air pollution

Somewhere between 30 to 150 times as many people die world-wide from indoor air pollution as die from the various possible effects of global warming, according to an estimate in an article by Bjorn Lomborg in Forbes, which I ran across via the Indoor Air Quality Council.

We do our little bit to address indoor air quality in our commercial janitorial accounts by employing HEPA filtered vacuums, vacuuming rather than dust mopping tile, microfiber wipes and damp mops, and so on. According to our ongoing measuring of client indoor air quality, we cut daytime airborne particle count (in the size range of most allergens) about in half. We claim thereby to benefit the health of our clients' employees; we don't generally claim to reduce mortality.

The mortality referenced in the article involves mostly third world folks without access to modern energy (electric, gas) to heat and light their homes, and to cook their food. Their energy source becomes wood, brush and dung, leading to much smoke indoors and deforestation outdoors.

Last year, in a feel-good but quite misguided initiative, our American government announced that the US would cease funding loans for construction of third world coal plants, and encourage the third world to use instead more wind and solar. Wind and solar are unaffordable, and not an option, for most of the third world (if they could afford expensive power, we'd not call them "third world"). To judge the effect of limiting coal fired electric power, one therefore ought compare coal not to wind and solar, but to the practical available alternative, wood and brush. Wood and brush will likely emit more greenhouse gas than coal (even inefficient filters on coal plants are better than an open wood fire). Wood and brush collection will denude the landscape, leading to soil erosion and a host of subsequent problems. And folks will die.

In passing, I noticed several years back an inexpensive technology alternative that originated in Nepal, of all places. In a small underground concrete chamber, an individual farmer disposes household and farm waste and a bit of water, in an oxygen poor environment. The result is natural gas (mostly methane) - not a lot, but enough to provide a poor family minimal heat, light and cooking. The residue is an effective fertilizer. No down side is apparent. The cost is somewhere around $500.00.

Seems too small scale a program to be of interest to our foreign aid professionals, either governmental or charity affiliated.

We've offered janitorial services in Phoenix since 1974; hold the BBB's A-plus rating; and have long been in the forefront of the industry in environmentally sensitive cleaning for health, safety and security. Our office cleaning program can generally improve Indoor Air Quality, in the size range of most allergens, by a factor of 50%, as reflected in our ongoing IAQ sampling. We also furnish Green Seal certified recycled restroom paper products and janitorial supplies.